Tankers or like ships



April 11, 1961 R. M. J. sORMAN TANKERS OR LIKE SHIPS Filed March 4, 1957 Fig.1

i I a a m- 26 2 Fi.2 21. 10 28 18 22/14 9 g m r 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ROLF MARTIN JOHANNES sbRMAN ATTORNEYS April 11, 1961 R scj 2,979,009

TANKERS OR LIKE SHIPS Filed March 4, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ROLF MARTIN JOHANNES sbRMAN BY AT TORNEYS United States Patent 6 TANKERS R LIKE SHIPS Rolf Martin Johannes Stirman, Goteborg,

signor to Aktiebolaget Gotaverken, a corporation of Sweden Sweden, as- Goteborg, Sweden,

This invention relates to a tanker or like ship, having its hull subdivided into tank compartments by means of longitudinal and cross bulkheads.

In usual tanker constructions the cross bulkheads extend perpendicularly to the vertical longitudinal central plane through the hull, the ship having one or more longitudinal bulkheads subdividing the ship in the transverse direction into a number of groups of tank compartments.

It has happened that in stormy weather a tanker has broken in two, particularly when not all the tank compartments were filled with oil, which loading is necessary for example, when the oil load is heavy and thus the whole loading space cannot be utilised. In such cases, for reasons of trimming, tanks located in the middle por tion and towards the ends of the ship are left empty. In that part of the hull occupied by the empty tanks, the upwardly directed forces created by the displaced water predominate, whereas in adjacent tanks filled with oil the downwardly directed forces corresponding to the weight of the load counteract the upwardly directed forces produced by the displaced water. Due to the extension of the cross bulkheads in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the ship, an abrupt change of forces is created at the zone where the upwardly directed and the downwardly directed forces act adjacent one another, and the result may be that the hull breaks in this transition zone.

A primary object of this invention is to provide a ships hull having greater longitudinal strength than hull constructions hitherto known.

Another object of the invention is to providea ship capable of being propelled in stormy weather at a higher speed than is possible with a tanker of conventional form. I

A further object of this invention is to provide a tanker enabling improved draining to be'e'fiiected when the liquid load,.such as oil, is discharged.

Further objects and advantages o f the invention willbe apparent from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and of which:

I Fig. l is a side view of a tanker constructed according totheinvention."" a

Fig. 2 is 'a'plan view of the tanker'showh in part of the upper deck cut away.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through a part of the ship adjacent the bottom thereof, and taken along the line IIII II of Fig.5. 1

Fig. 4 is a section along the line IV-.IV of Fig. 1 on alarger scale.

- Fig. 5 shows a detail of Fig. '4 on a still larger scale and illustrates a pipe tunnel located near the keel of the ship.

Referring to the drawings, denotes a ships hull which forwardly of a poop 12 is divided into tank compartments for oil cargo. .A longitudinal bulkhead 14 extends along the centre plane of the ship and merges at the base into a pipe tunnel 16 rigidly secured to the keel Fig. 1 with 2,979,009 Patented Apr. 11, 19 6 1 portion of the hull. The top of the longitudinal central bulkhead 14 is connected to a walk tunnel 18 provided with a flow or pathway 20. The walk tunnel 18 is entirely flush with the ships deck 22 so asnot to constitute any obstacle to a wave washing overboard.

According to the invention, the cross bulkheads 24 are disposed so as to be inclined relatively to the central 1ongitudinal bulkhead 14 so that the tank compartments, formed by two cross bulkheads 24, the hull and the longitudinal bulkhead, have the form of a parallelogram when seen in plan view, instead of the rectangular form in conventional constructions. The bulkheads 24 are preferably so disposed that their rear ends are rigidly connected to the central longitudinal bulkhead 14 or the tunnels 16, 18, their forward edges being connected to the hull. The bulkheads 24 thus form a kind of herringbone pattern with the bulkheads on opposite sides of -disposed as plates located at different levels, and whichthe centre line diverging from one another in a direction towards the bows of the ship. The angle of inclination ofthe bulkheads 24 relatively to the central longitudinal bulkhead is such in proportion to their spacing from one another as to cause said bulkheads to overlap one another. A plane perpendicular to the central plane will thus on each side of the longitudinal bulkhead 14 travels at least two tank compartments. The bulkheads and in particular the cross bulkheads 24 may be constituted by corrugated sheet having its corrugations extending horizontally.

Thus a considerable reinforcement of the ship is produced while also the deadweight thereof may be reduced in many cases. The shearing stresses produced by heavy seas are reduced which especially holds true when some of the tank compartments are empty. If it is assumed thatthe tank compartment indicated by shading in Fig. 2 isempty it will readily be understood that upwardly directed forces acting on said tank compartment are compensatedby parts of tank compartments located respectively outsideand inside said compartment in the'transverse direction of the ship, because said adjacent tanks are filled with oil and thus subjected to the downwardly directed. forces produced by the load. In this way, any concentra- J tions of shearing forces acting transversely of the hullare reduced and thereby the danger of the ship being.

broken in two is considerably reduced.

The cross bulkheads 24 are connecte'd in the, usual manner with transverse webs 26 winch are perforated or constitute an additional reinforcement of the shipfi A feature of the.inventio n is to cause saidwebs to extend, also in an inclined direction relatively to the ,longitudb. .nal direction of the ship andaccording to a preferred em-j fbodiment so that the webs on one side Qfthe' longitudinal: bulkhead 14, extend parallel to the cross bulkheads '24:

on the other side of said longitudinalbulkhead. Each web may beco-planar witha bulkhead'24-on1he opposites side of the longitudinal bulkhead 14 IntheillustratedE embodiment, the inclination:of:the,transyerse bulkheads and their-mutual spacing is chosen so as to cause abulk: head 24 and a Web 26 to .meet one another adjacent the hull as indicated at 28. i

The lower pipe tunnel 16 encloses distribution pipes 30 for the load, in the illustrated example four pipes 30 being shown. Each pipe has branch pipes 32 opening near thebottom of the ment.

The branch conduits include remote-controlled valves 34. Each pipeis intended for loading and discharging aplurality of tank compartments, as will be understood from Fig. 3. The pumps for the distributing pipes are located in a compartment 36 aft ofthe load 7 tanks, and the propelling engines arelocated-so a's toprovide a safe insulatingspacing between them and the rearmost part of each tank 'compartc Mamm s.

The rhomboid formed load tanks have a particular advantage when discharging the oil load from the tanks. As already mentioned the branch pipes 32 open into the rearmost part of the tank compartments, which due to the rhomboid form comprises a relatively small part of the base surface of the compartment. By trimming the ship so as to have it down by the stern the oil will collect in the rearmost portion of the tanks and for this reason can be sucked ofi much more completely than has been hitherto possible. The quantity of oil remaining in the ship after such discharge is thus reduced by a considerable degree.

The upper walk tunnel 18 encloses electric cables, washing pipes, steam conduits and similar conduits. The steam conduits comprise supply and discharge pipes for the deck machines and heating coils in the tank compartments to heat the oil if discharge is effected at low ambient temperature. The ceiling of the walk tunnel, asalready mentioned, is flush with the upper deck, only those pipe branches and valves which must be accessible from outside projecting above said deck. These, however, only constitute an insignificant obstacle to waves breaking over the deck.

Experience has shown that the precipitation of solid particles in the tank compartments and in particular on the bottom thereof, thus necessitating relatively complicated cleaning operations, can be reduced considerably by maintaining the oil, during the voyage of the ship be tween the loading and discharge harbours, in a suitably dimensioned circulation, possibly in combination with heating by means of the coil system, provided that the outdoor temperature issuchas to requiresuch heating. This circulation can be eiiected by means of the piping and pumping systems available on board ship.

In Fig. 2 the reference numeral 38 denotes manhole covers for the tank compartments. The accommodation for the crew is located aft in the poop 12. The bridge house is formed with a powerful breakwater 40, and a preliminary breakwater 42 is provided on the tank deck;

The construction hereinbefore described may also'be applied to other kinds of ships having a similar general design.

While one more or less specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it is to be understood that this is for purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not tobe limited to this specific embodiment.

WhatIclaimis: i

1. A ship comprising a hull having a bow and a stern portion containing the propelling engines, at'least one" longitudinal-bulkhead and a series of spaced,rsubstantially parallel cross bulkheads on'oppositesides of said longitudinal bulkhead, said bulkheads dividing the 'hull" on one sideof said longitudinal bulkhead being in substantial alignment with the cross bulkheads on the opposite side of said longitudinal bulkhead, and cargo distribution pipes running in the longitudinal direction of the ship and having branch v pipes opening near the bottom of the rearmost part of each tank compartment.

2. A ship having a hull including a bow and a stem, at least one longitudinal bulkhead, a series of spaced substantially parallel' cross bulkheads on opposite sides of said longitudinal bulkhead and dividing the hull into tank compartments, said cross bulkheads diverging towards the bow of the ship and being spaced apart so that at least two of the diverging bulkheads on one side of the longitudinal bulkhead overlap one another in any plane perpendicular to said longitudinal bulkhead, cargo distributing pipes running longitudinally of the ship and having branch pipes opening near the bottoms of the rearmost portions of the tank compartments( 3. The structure of claim 2 having a tunnel in which said cargo distributing pipes are located.

4. The structure of claim 2 in which the ship has a deck, and a walk tunnel beneath and flush with said deck.

5. A ship having a hull including a bow, a stern and a deck, a longitudinal bulkhead, a series of spacedsubstantially parallel cross bulkheads on each side of said longitudinal bulkhead dividing the hull into tank compartments, said cross bulkheads diverging from said longitudinal bulkhead towards the bow of the ship and being spaced apart so that at least two of the diverging bulkheadson one side of the longitudinal bulkhead overlap one another in any plane perpendicular to said longitudinal bulkhead.

6. A ship comprising a hull having a bow, a stern and a deck, a longitudinal bulkhead, a series of spaced substantially' parallel cross bulkheads on opposite sides of said longitudinal bulkhead dividing the hull into tank compartments, said cross bulkheads diverging towards the bow of the ship and being spaced apart so that at least two of the diverging bulkheads on one side of the longitudinal bulkhead overlap one another in any plane perpendicular to said longitudinal bulkhead, transverse perforate webs disposed at difierent levels transversely of said cross bulkheads, the transverse webs on one side of said. longitudinal bulkheads being in substantial alignment with the cross bulkheads on the opposite side of said longitudinal bulkhead, and tunnel forming walls along the upper and lower portions of said longitudinal bulkhead respectively beneath the ships deck and along the into tank compartments, said-cross bulkheads-diverging towards the bowofthe ship and being spaced; apart so that at least two of the diverging bulkheads on, one side V of the longitudinal bulkhead overlap one another in any plane perpendicular to-said longitudinal bulkhead,

and transverse, perforate webs disposed at dilferent levels' transversely of said cross bulkheads. the transverse webs bottom portion of the hull. I References Cited in the of this patent v .UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 1,263,679 Kibele Apr. 23, 1918 1,302,547 Heidenreich May6,, 1919. 1,303,690 Leparnrentier May 13, 1919 -:l,307,9,83 Lynn June 24, 1919 1,309,019 Cortez July 8', 1919 1,330,517 Chew Feb. 10, 1920.

.. Ono Jan. 22, 1929 

